O heart filled with mercy and love everlasting,
Stir up and arouse now my spirit with thine;
So that I may practise both goodness and mercy,
O thou, flame of loving, come soften my heart.

2. Recit. (A)

Ye hearts which have yourselves
To stony cliffs perverted,
Now melt to softness mild;
Now weigh what you the Savior teacheth,
Act, act with charity
And strive while yet on earth now
To be just like the Father!
Ah! Summon not through that forbidden judgment
Almighty God to judgment's seat,
Else will his zealous wrath destroy you.
Forgive and ye will be forgiven;
Give, give within this lifetime;
Store up a principal
Which there one day
God will repay with ample store of interest.(1)For as ye judge, so will ye be judged also.

3. Aria (A)

Be concerned within this life,
Spirit, ample seed to scatter,
So the harvest thee may gladden
In the rich eternity
Where those who good things here have planted
Gladly there the sheaves shall gather.

4. Recit. (B)

How selfishness deceives itself!
Concern thyself
First from thine eye the beam to loosen,
Then may'st thou for the mote be also troubled
Which in thy neighbor's eye is found.(2)If now thy neighbor be not fully pure,
Remember, thou art, too, no angel;
Amend, then, thine own failings!
How can one blind man with another
Still walk the straight and narrow?
What, will they not to their great sorrow
Fall in the pit now both together?

5. Aria (B)

This is the Christian art:
But God and self discerning,
With true affection burning,
Not, when forbidden, judging,
Nor stranger's work destroying,
One's neighbor not forgetting.
With gen'rous measure measuring:
This makes with God and men goodwill,
This is the Christian art.